Blood plasma is a light yellow liquid that makes up about half of a person’s blood. Blood plasma is vital for fighting infection, maintaining correct blood pH levels, helping blood to clot, and ...

The primary responsibility of the heart is to pump blood throughout the circulatory system. As the center of the circulatory system, the heart is an essential organ for maintaining the overall ...

When blood is donated, it is rarely used as whole blood. Instead, blood banks separate it into different components so that ...

The kidneys are important to the body’s production of urine. They also play a role in regulating important components in the blood. Oxygenated blood comes to the kidneys from the right and left renal ...

Red blood cells are important mediators of the innate immune system. Depending on the cellular environment, these cells either activate the immune system or maintain the system in a dormant state. In ...

A key diagnostic step in disease detection is analyzing blood components. Accurate separation of blood cells from plasma, which holds proteins and other constituents, is crucial in many assays. First ...

Blood transfusion before arrival at a hospital reduces mortality from traumatic hemorrhage and shock. Whether transfusion with whole blood is more beneficial than transfusion with blood components is ...

Jason Sperry, M.D., M.P.H., chief of trauma surgery at UPMC and Andrew B. Peitzman Professor of Surgery in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Giving whole blood or the component parts of ...

Timely blood availability is crucial for life-saving treatments in emergencies and ongoing care.

Giving whole blood or the component parts of blood are equally effective options for paramedics and emergency medical technicians to use in treating patients with severe, traumatic bleeding before ...

Red blood cell disorders are conditions that affect the number or function of red blood cells (RBCs). RBCs are one of the main components of blood. They are among the most abundant cell types. The ...